Director Maarten Hajer is leaving PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency for Utrecht University
On 1 October 2015, Professor Maarten Hajer will step down as Director-General of PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. On that date he will reach the end of this 7-year term of appointment, the standard period for high-level civil servants in the Netherlands. Hajer has been appointed distinguished Professor of Urban Futures at the Faculty of Geosciences at Utrecht University, where he will lead an Urban Futures Studio. In the first year, a major part of Hajer's work at the University will be his role as Chief Curator at the 2016 International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR-2016).
First Director-General of PBL
A holder of degrees in Urban and Regional Planning as well as Political Science, Professor Maarten Hajer (1962) was appointed in 2008 as the first Director-General of PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, which was established when the Netherlands Institute for Spatial Research (RPB) merged with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP). He played a leading role in broadening and integrating PBL’s fields of work. Combining his vision on long-term developments with his sharp eye for linking science, policy and society, Hajer put PBL firmly on the map both at home and abroad. In January 2015, he was awarded the title of '2014 Government Manager of the Year'. The jury praised Hajer for his ability not only to connect science with policy but also with a broader audience. His publications include the highly influential essay The Energetic Society (2011).
Successor Hans Mommaas
On 1 November 2015, Hajer will be succeeded at PBL by Professor Hans Mommaas (1955), who is currently Professor of Leisure Studies at the University of Tilburg and Director of Telos Brabant Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Tilburg.